New Women’s Super League format “more intense” says St Helens head coach

St Helens Women’s head coach Craig Richards has praised the “more intense” competition that the new split-season format will bring to the Women’s Super League.

Richards was speaking at a season launch event, held in Manchester, ahead of the 2026 Betfred Women’s Super League season.

New split-season format 

This season’s Women’s Super League will introduce a split-season format to the rugby league competition.

The regular season will commence with a single round of fixtures. Teams will face each other once.

These regular season fixtures can be either home or away.

After completion of the regular season stage, the table will split into the top and bottom four teams.

These teams will then face each other, both home and away, in the extended play-off series.

The winning team in the extended play-offs will earn a place at the Women’s Super League Grand Final.

The teams finishing in second and third will then play each other, deciding which team will take the remaining place in the Grand Final.

At the foot of the table, the team which finishes the season in eighth place will play the winners of the National Championship.

This fixture will be a winner-takes all encounter, for the right to have a spot in the Women’s Super League for next season.

Richards has praised the impact which this format is set to have on the competition.

He said: “We were one of the teams that voted for it, to be fair.

“The key thing for us is, we feel as though the split will make it more intense for the top end.

“For the teams towards the bottom, they will just have, I suppose, closer games, where they have got a chance of winning or staying within a score.

“As we saw last season, there were some real blowout scores, and that just does not help anybody.

“It will make both sides of the ladder more competitive and that will improve us all over.”

The competition has seen a diverse number of winning teams in its history.

Was this change to the format needed?

Richards believes this long term change to the women’s game was required.

He said: “Yeah, I really do, especially from an international point of view.

“Once it comes to the World Cup, what the top players are going to need is intense games.

“I think in [the build up to] the last World Cup, it was hard to get that, week in, week out.

“So, hopefully, what this does is bring intensity, which will improve performance.”

Let us know what you think about the new changes, in our poll. Click here to access it

Rule change on Dual-Registration of players

Previously, this rule allowed a player to be registered with two clubs simultaneously.

This rule will no longer be in place for the upcoming 2026 season.

The new one-week loan system will provide a platform for players to join a club on a 7-day loan and feature that weekend for that club.

Richards believes this will have a welcome impact on squad depths.

He said: “No matter who you are, you need depth in your squad.

“It will make clubs work hard, and I know we all work hard anyway, but you are going to have to have a bigger, stronger and more depth in your squad.

“That is what we want because it will help the growth of the game overall.”

Richards believes the loan system has been a way for St Helens to support other clubs.

He said: “At Saints, what we have always done is, we have always tried to look after other clubs and loan players out, to help them get through the season.

“But, at the same time, we do not hide that, what it does is, it strengthens us as well.

“If you have got a big squad, if you have got talented players that are not playing, you want them to compete at the highest level. So it works for both teams.”

“Sharpening the product” of Super League

Richards was asked whether he would like to see more from broadcasters and media outlets, in order to grow attention on the Women’s Super League.

He believes the issue is not down to the broadcasters.

He said: “I don’t know that it’s [about] a lot more from broadcasters.

“It’s about us sharpening the product because the better the product, the more people who will want to put eyes on us.

“So I don’t always put it on the broadcasters. I think we have got a responsibility to make sure that we are vibrant, that we are highly skilled and that we have got competitive games.

“If you get that, then people will want to broadcast our games.

“So it’s not about the broadcasters. It’s about us making sure that we have got a quality product.”

Support for the future of St Helens in the League

Richards agrees that Saints receive adequate support to promote the sport to aspiring players in the local area.

He said: “Yeah, we are really lucky at St Helens. We have got a fantastic board that has backed us from day one.

“We have put a lot into our women’s team and the pathway beneath it.

“We have certain people like Jodie [Cunningham], who is [also] a full time member of staff.

“Yeah, we have been really lucky at St Helens, that the board has backed us, our chairman has backed us. Long may that continue.”

St Helens’ 2026 Women’s Super League campaign gets underway on Sunday 17th May.

They will play Barrow Raiders at Craven Park.

Saints will be looking to get back to winning ways, after suffering defeat in the 2025 Grand Final.

The Saints Head Coach shares his thoughts on the new Super League format in the video below:

(Featured Image and other images by Ross Parry)